50 years after Beatles break up.. my own Beatlemania!

The Beatles.  I was born a little too late for them.  Never bought an album, but I do recall hearing their songs playing in the background of my life.  On the rare occasion I am asked what I think of them, my response is a shrug.  I know they were talented, I know they changed music history, but I wasn't there when they did it.  Their later solo careers were more familiar to me.

So why am I writing about them, almost 50 years after they broke up?  Well, because I had my own little Beatlemania recently, when a friend and I went to see a Beatles cover band.  Aptly named, Beatlemania Magic, they looked, talked, and sang just like the Beatles.  Paul played a left-handed guitar... the drummer bobbed his head side to side in Ringo's signature style... John did most of the talking... and George let his guitar do most of the talking.

I was gobsmacked by my own reaction to this cover band. What I expected to be just a nice evening with a friend watching local talent... turned out to be a ticket to ride... back to 1964.  I cheered and sang, danced and rocked out to a band I never really knew.

She Loves You, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Twist and Shout, Ask Me Why, Please Please Me, Eight Days a Week, Here Comes the Sun, With a Little Help from my Friends... these songs came out of hibernation in my subconscious, and I became fascinated with the Beatles for the first time in my life.  (What took so long?!)

The guitarists began throwing their guitar picks out into the audience, and I told my friend, "Watch, I'm going to get a pick from George."  I'm glad she was there, because she can attest to the fact that within minutes, I locked eyes with George, watched him throw a guitar pick in my direction, and we both caught it. What were the chances?  Magical Mystery!  

If I had to choose a favorite Beatle... it would be George.  Though all of them created songs that I loved in the 70's and 80's... George's "What is Life" stands out as my soul song.   And I admired him for the way he let Paul and John bask in the limelight while he strummed and sang in the background unpretentiously.  

After the concert, I scoured information about all four of the lads from Liverpool, and listened to their early songs again.  I read their lyrics, which to me are so pure, honest and simple.  The rhymes were almost always basic, yet they managed to say in a sentence what would take most people a paragraph...

I think I'm gonna be sad... I think it's today, yeah

The girl that's driving my mad... is going away

It's a miracle just to create one hit song... but it's pure musical genius that gives birth to hit after hit after hit.  Without even trying, the Beatles created the blueprint for all music that followed.  

Researching further, I found an old Beatles movie in black and white (A Hard Day's Night) that captivated me.  I never knew John was so cheeky and playful!  I always thought of him as stoic and dull, perhaps due to later pictures of him with long hair, round glasses and rarely a smile.  This video contains clips of the movie and represents a side to the Beatles I never knew.  I suppose I could call them the 4 Stooges!  Have a look: 

My new appreciation for them is rather serendipitous.  I'll be going to England in October, just a few weeks from now!  My Mom and I will spend 4 days there before flying over to Dublin for 10.  My roots are there, and I've always wanted to visit, ever since I was a little girl.  The posh British accent intrigues me, and it's the only one I can imitate with a fair degree of authenticity.  I'll give it a go in London and see if the locals react with stares - or smiles.  Expect a report in my next blog.  Thanks for reading, friends.  Cheerio!